


Memories in the Music

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Except the Triplets are about Canon Age, Future Fic, M/M, musician au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 12:03:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15994820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: When Yuuko hires Yuuri to give her triplets piano lessons, it gets Viktor thinking about one of his biggest regrets - his failure to teach Yuri to play the harp.





	Memories in the Music

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DuendeJunior](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuendeJunior/gifts).



Viktor leaned on the doorway, smiling softly as he watched Yuuri point out which keys matched up with which notes to Axel. Sure, he was supposed to be practicing himself – his opening night was only two days away, and everyone expected his playing to be flawless as usual – but this seemed much more interesting. Any excuse to watch Yuuri interacting with children was a good one. Any excuse to watch Yuuri at the piano, or talking about the piano, or playing the piano, was a good one. Watching Yuuri explaining the piano to a child? Viktor would be a puddle, if such a thing were possible.

A tug on Viktor’s sleeve got his attention. Lutz was staring up at him. “Can I watch you practice?”

Viktor turned away from Viktor and Axel. “Sure! Where’s Loop?”

“She’s out back with Makkachin and Minami-san. He’s teaching her how to dribble. It’s too hot to run around, so I came inside to wait for my turn on the piano.”

“All right, then. Come on.” Viktor led the way to the other room, where his harp was set up. He settled in to warm up, hoping Lutz wouldn’t get too bored while he ran through some basic exercises. Every time he checked on her, though, she was staring at him, completely rapt. He recognized the expression from every time he stared at Yuuri.

It took him a second when he looked up and something didn’t look right. When he figured out what it was, he looked at his phone. “Axel? Your lesson’s already over?”

“Yep. You didn’t notice when we came in? Lutz didn’t want to leave.”

“No, I didn’t. Did you have a good lesson?”

“I guess.” Axel pouted a little. “It was kind of boring. I only got to play three notes.”

“Well, you know, it’s like learning anything! You need to learn the basics before you can do anything too complicated. Like reading, they don’t teach you the whole alphabet at once, they start you off with only a few letters and let you get those down before you move on. Too much is overwhelming!”

Axel made a face. “Maybe, but it’s still boring. Is it gonna be like that with every instrument I learn? Only a few notes at a time?”

“Yes. It is. Learn to accept that and you’ll be much better off. I promise you, it’s worth it. Stick with it if you can. Give it a chance.”

“I’ll try.” Axel jumped up. “I’m going outside to play with Loop. Bye!”

Viktor went back to his practice, playing through the music he was going to be performing for the concert series. He didn’t notice when Lutz came back in, but he did notice when Yuuko showed up to claim her daughters. “Lutz! Don’t bother Viktor when he’s practicing!”

“But he said I could watch!” Still, Lutz got to her feet. “Thank you for letting me watch, Viktor-san. Your music is so pretty. When do you think I could start learning to play the harp?”

Viktor smiled at her. “When you’re a little bit bigger, or you can find a harp sized for you! A full-size one like this, your arms aren’t long enough yet. If you want to play the harp, stick with your piano lessons to get a good foundation in music theory, and maybe in a year or two see if your mom will let you start learning to play the violin. That way you’ll have some idea how those concepts transfer from one instrument to another.”

Yuuko nodded. “Thanks for letting her watch, Viktor. I hope she was good for you and Yuuri.”

 

Yuuri came in to find Viktor. “That was fun. Lutz is amazing, Axel will be good if she can get over her attitude problem. Loop doesn’t have the talent, but she’s willing to work hard.”

“That’s good. You’re going to keep teaching them?”

“Lutz and Loop for sure, Axel and I made a deal. If she’ll give it an honest try for six weeks and still hates it, then I’ll talk to Yuuko about letting her drop and pick something else. She’ll still be getting the music theory from Minako in ballet, so it’s not like she’ll miss out completely, and if she hates it…” Yuuri shrugged. “I think Yuuko will be reasonable.”

“Probably. I hope Axel learns to appreciate it, though! You’re so good with kids. Not like me.”

Yuuri laughed and came over to wrap his arms around Viktor. “You’re good with the triplets! You just keep judging yourself by how you were with Yuri, and that’s not fair. Yuri was a very difficult child.”

“Yeah, I know, but I was terrible at trying to teach him anything! He had his issues, but he was very motivated to learn, at least. And I couldn’t teach him.”

“At least he grew up all right,” Yuuri said, kissing Viktor’s forehead. “He may not be able to play the harp, but he’s got his cello and his guitar and doesn’t seem to have any trouble switching between playing with the symphony and playing in Otabek’s rock band. You didn’t drive him away from music all together.”

“I know, it’s just…” Viktor leaned into Yuuri. “I’m not cut out to be a teacher. Why should being a dad be any different?”

“I don’t think you should give up on teaching. I heard you talking to Lutz about the harp. You did great there! I think you and Yuri just had personality issues that made you the wrong teacher for him. Those things happen, and you shouldn’t give up. I bet you’d be a great dad, if you’d just let yourself try.”

Viktor reached out, plucking a couple strings on the harp. Yuuri would be the best dad ever. Didn’t he deserve the chance? “I’ll think about it. I know you want kids.”

 

Later that afternoon, while Yuuri set up the custom poodle chess set for another game, Viktor’s phone rang. Viktor glanced at it, and nearly dropped the phone when he saw the number. “Yurio? What’s wrong?”

Yuri scoffed. “Can’t I just be calling to say hi and ask how your stupid dog is?”

“No. You don’t do that. You’d have texted, not called. So what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. You’re getting paranoid in your old age.” There was a pause. “Katsudon asked me to call and tell you something.”

Well, that certainly explained Yuri calling out of nowhere. “What’s that?”

“It wasn’t your fault. I gave learning harp another try a few months back, and it didn’t go any better. Me and the harp just don’t get along. Same guy’s teaching me drums and it’s going a lot better, so it’s just me and the stupid instrument. Between that and me being a brat, anyone would’ve struggled.”

“Why did Yuuri want you to tell me now?” Viktor hoped it wasn’t Yuuri trying to push the kids issue. So far, Yuuri had been very good about not pushing.

Yuri scoffed. “Neither of us realized just how bad you still felt about failing me like that. Figured you’d just put it behind you like you do with your mistakes. I swear, Yuuri’s mostly been good for you, but you’re picking up his anxiety too. Quit that. You can probably teach Lutz if she still wants to learn in a few years.”

“My mistakes are my mistakes. Sometimes other people get hurt, like everyone I dated before I finally found Yuuri, but it was different with you. Musicians sometimes make mistakes. Relationships fail. A teacher isn’t supposed to fail a student when the student’s got the will to learn.”

“Yeah, well, you didn’t fail me. Failing me would’ve been giving up and kicking me out as soon as you realized it wasn’t gonna be easy, or trying to force me to stay when I decided I’d had enough of the brick wall. If you need something to learn from it, how about this: sometimes things just aren’t the right fit. Me and harp aren’t. I could learn it, but I’d hate it so much that it would take forever, and the longer I kept trying the more I’d hate it and the slower I would learn. If a future student says that they hate it, then once they’ve given it a proper chance, let them walk away.”

“Like Axel and piano. I know. Thank you, Yuri.”

“You’re welcome. So how is your stupid dog, anyway?”

Viktor whistled, and Makkachin came running, Yuuri following closely. Viktor held the phone out to Makkachin, who barked happily at it.

“You’re so weird. Hi Makkachin.”

 

When Yuri hung up, Viktor turned half his attention to the chess game. The other half of his attention was still thinking about the triplets and Yuri and everything else. It was no surprise when he lost badly. Yuuri hesitated before setting the poodles back up. “What’s on your mind?”

“Why did you ask Yuri to call me?”

“Like I said. I heard you and Lutz. If she sticks with her ambition, she’s probably going to ask you to teach her when she’s ready to learn, and you know she’d be disappointed if you said no. I’d assumed you’d have no problem with that, until I heard just how bad you still felt about Yuri.”

“That’s it? To encourage me to try teaching again?”

“That’s it. I wouldn’t use Yuri to try to change your mind about kids.” Yuuri set down the poodle knight and reached across the board for Viktor’s hands. “You can teach. You’ve taught me. You had a bad experience with Yuri, and now that I know how much that still bothers you, I want to help you get over that. Like you helped me get over my inability to perform in public.”


End file.
